Dave Turns 13

It's pretty much impossible to believe Dave is a teenager. The years have gone by so quickly! He is such a great kid and we are so proud to be his parents! Here's a little about him at 13. 

Love this picture with Grandpa Boo. The kids go out with Josh's parents for every birthday. Dave almost always chooses Culver's. 

We actually celebrated his birthday in Evansville this year since it was the day after Thanksgiving. That meant he got lots and lots of cakes (and pies!).

Dad and Kyra threw a joint party for Dave and Tony since their birthdays are only two days apart. 

 

So a little about Dave. He has continued doing fantastic in school this year and is really thriving with moving up to the junior/senior high school. He has been involved in Esports playing Super Smash Bros and has absolutely loved that. He hangs out with high schoolers playing so that has been pretty cool! His robotics team has done well so far this year and they hope to make it to state again. 

Since he got a phone for his birthday (!) he has mostly watched a lot of youtube reals, ha! I'll have to ask him what his favorite show is right now, probably one of the Marvel ones on Disney+. He loved the new Avatar movie and is looking forward to lots of new ones coming out next year. He loves attending the youth group at church, especially the Wednesday morning coffee shop meet-ups here on campus! I think he was reading the Harry Potter series but recently started on The Giver since those were so long. He is so dang stubborn sometimes but he definitely gets that honest!

I really cannot wait to see what the future holds for this kid, but also want time to slow way way down.  

Thanksgiving in Evansville

This year for the first time in a long time we headed to Evansville for Thanksgiving. We had a lovely visit and got to spend time with lots of family.

Starting off, Ike went deer hunting with Gil. They were unsuccessful but had a good time trying!

Dave helped Gamma make some apple pies (his favorite!)

On Friday Dad and Kyra were back in town so we hung out over there with the cousins. 

The kids helped Grandpa Charlie with some clean-up. Amazing how much fun they had tossing trash into this trailer.

We spent some time at the park near their house since it was decently warm out. Meanwhile Josh and Tony helped my mom build some storage for her garage. 

Just chilling with Buster. We played some Super Smash tournaments and did some organizing at Mom's house too. All in all a great, relaxing weekend!

 

November

Here's a quick look at our November. Seemed like we were fairly busy as usual! I'll do a separate post for Dave's birthday and our trip to Evansville for Thanksgiving. 

Ike's robotics season really picked up this month. He had several competitions and his team did pretty well. 

Spent a week working on getting the leaves off the deck. Ike helped a little :)

I went down to Evansville on my own to try and help with Grandpa stuff and Tony and I spent some time painting mom's bedroom. We had a lot of fun and her room looks awesome!

Ike and Josh went to Camp Tecumseh for the 4th grade camping trip. 

While they were gone Dave and I went on a date to Culver's.

Josh and I used a nice warm(ish) day to put up our Christmas lights. They turned out great!

I can't remember why I took this picture but it's a cute one!

More robotics for Ike. 

And finally the boys' Christmas ornaments for the year. Dave's is SuperSmash and Ike's is a Brussels sprout since that's his favorite :)

 

Halloween 2022

Halloween was pretty relaxed this year. I helped put on a party for the staff kids on campus and the boys lead groups around trick or treating. 

Josh and I dressed up for the decades day this year-he was a frat guy from the 2000s and I was supposed to be 90s!

When we were in Evansville for grandpa's funeral, we got to see the cousins for a little while. It was nice to get a break from everything and hang out with them for a bit!

The boys got to try Crumbl cookies for the first time too!

 

Dauphin Island 2022

For Fall Break this year we decided to head back to Dauphin since we had such a great time last year. We were only able to stay part of the week because of grandpa passing, but we enjoyed the time we had on the island. 

My mom was supposed to come with us but with grandpa's condition she couldn't. She gave the boys their early birthday/Christmas present-an Oculus! They have had so much fun with it. 

Ike came out with me on one of my morning walks. 

Kids had some decent waves for boogie boarding while we were there.

Ike's flamingo swim trunks and matching tank top. 

Ike's crab leg feast. 

Had to catch all the sunsets we could!

Ice cream of course. 

One last sunrise before we took off back to Evansville. 

 

Ike is 10!

It is crazy that my baby is already 10 years old! He has grown and matured so much in this last year and is really such a cool kid.  

You can tell from this picture that he is still rocking all the bracelets that will fit on his wrists. Favorite subject right now is science and he really enjoyed reading the Treasure Hunter series by James Patterson recently. We've gotten to the occasional eye roll phase but not too often yet! :)  His favorite bands kind of rotate but he's usually listening to 21 Pilots, Kings Kaleidoscope, or whatever is popular on the radio station that plays on the bus. 

On his birthday we went to concert in Anderson put on by some Christian rappers- KB, nobigdyl, and flame. We had a blast and ate at a really great restaurant before the concert. 

For his birthday meal he enjoyed two of his favorites: fish tacos and Brussels sprouts! He definitely has an interesting palate for a 10 year old!

View from our table, we ate at 1925 Pubhouse. Excellent food and service if you're ever in the area.

With some birthday money Ike bought himself a new hat at the merch table.

This one is kind of hard to see, but Ike has really enjoyed soccer this year, and continues to want to improve. He absolutely loves playing goalie when he gets the chance.